INDUSTRIAL DRY ETCHING OF SILICON  

Nines PV presents the ADE^© technology: a unique, low cost, chemical DRY ETCHING of silicon production technology for the PV solar cell manufacturing industry. ADE (Atmospheric Dry Etching) is an innovative proprietary technology patented by NINES PV. Unlike RIE (Reactive Ion Etching), ADE does not require any high cost vacuum pumps or plasma modules, and is purely a chemical etch process (no ions).

> NO WATER, NO GREEN HOUSE GAS = LOW ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

 As the solar industry is scaling exponentially, it is critical to select low impact manufacturing technologies. ADE allows solar cell manufacturers to start moving away from the traditionnal wet etching methods that have large environmental footprints and impact on water resources. Our dry etch tools provide superior efficiencies, etch rate and tighter process control in a very small package. The etching gas used in the process is not a Green house gas (GHG), has no global warming potential.

"ADE is a step toward moving away from water-hungry wet etching processes, and reduce your water and environmental footprint "

 > EUROPEAN INNOVATION FOR GLOBAL SOLAR CELL MANUFACTURING

ADE can scale to multi-GW levels, resulting in very low cost of ownership. It is currently the only scalable industrial dry etching process available for the photovoltaic market. Our SINGLE SIDE ETCHING process enables advanced cell architectures (TOPCON, HTJ, PERL, PEROVSKYTE...), through for exemple the removing of poly-silicon wrap around, the selective etching and patterning or edge isolation of solar cells. Our advanced SINGLE SIDE Nano-TEXTURING process enables the cost savings of novel kerfless wafer technologies, and is now being developped specifically for high efficiency monocrystalline cells, enabling a path toward lower front surface reflectance, leaner process flow and lower ligth angle dependance for higher product yield and efficiency .

"Innovation is essential to meet the challenges of scaling photovoltaic manufacturing and solar renewable energy"